Children’s Parliament

Who are the Beneficiaries :

Children of 40 communities in the twin cities and neighboring the city of Hyderabad – 240 children in the age group 6-14.

Brief description of the project:

1The right to participation of children is the focus of the project. “The neighborhood children’s “Parliament” is forum for child participation

2The term “Parliament” comes from a Latin root “parlare” which means “to speak”. To speak means to articulate an opinion. The Members of the ‘Children’s Parliament, will learn to express their opinion, on the development of the neighborhood, needs and problems of children

3The children develop an ownership “our area” and have several opinions on making the neighborhood a better place

4Democratic values are practiced within the Parliament. The elected ministers and members adopt a democratic process in expressing opinions arriving at a consensus and an executable resolution. They then approach the local authorities for support

5The Children’s Parliament is based on the nature of children who are selfless, sharing all with their friends, exhibit non stop enthusiasm, creativity and a spontaneous love of their village / neighborhood

6The Children’s Parliament will have an impact “here and now” on the neighborhood as the opinions of children to improve the neighborhood are implemented.. It will have an impact on the adults of the neighborhood and later as the children grow up as participating citizens

7The parents are keen to send their children for “tuition’s” which supplement the learning process in school. These are children from the neighborhood. We use these tuition centers to start neighborhood children’s Parliaments..Each parliament consists of around 30 children. The children attend daily tuition’s – once a week Parliament meeting at the same venue

8The tuition masters / teachers are trained as a Children Parliament animators. One tuition may have two children Parliaments